Ezekiel Elliott: ‘We have to play better, it wasn’t the refs’

Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott was not having any excuses following his team’s 34-24 home loss to the Green Bay Packers.

A game that was defined as much by questionable calls as mistakes from the Cowboys resulted in a second consecutive loss for Elliott and Co.

After the game, Elliott was not about to blame officiating for his Cowboys laying an egg.

“If we want to be a playoff team, if we want to make a run for everything, we are going to have to play a lot better,” Elliott said. “We have to play better than we’ve been playing.”

The Pro Bowl running back added another layer to his talking points in refusing to blame the refs.

Ezekiel Elliott: "Don't ask me any officiating questions. I'm never going to be the guy to say, 'Hey, we lost because of the refs.' At the end of the day, we got to look in the mirror as a team and realize that we shot ourselves in the foot too many times. It wasn't the refs."

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 7, 2019

This is a much more mature approach than we saw from Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett during the game.

There were questionable calls on both sides. As Elliott notes, the Cowboys simply need to play better.

Dak Prescott threw three interceptions. Dallas committed 11 penalties for 124 yards. Meanwhile, the team allowed Aaron Jones to go for four rushing touchdowns.